29 December 2006

THE MERIKENS: FREE BLACK AMERICAN SETTLERS IN TRINIDAD 1815-16

Well, being a former Marine and a descendent of the African People from the Diaspora to the Americas (and loving history) I tend to read a lot of military history especially in regards to Marines of African ancestry. The US Marine tradition comes from the Royal Marine tradition of the United Kingdom and even with that pesky revolutionary war thing they have a brotherhood bond and a lot of history. One part of that history is in regards to the war of 1812, which appears was a time that some slaves took advantage of the opportunity to get their freedom. Some of these slaves escaped to the British and enlisted in the Colonial Marines to fight against their former slave owners. Smart brothers. After the war they settled in Trinidad and formed a free society which flourishes today. Here is an excerpt from an article regarding this:

"These Black Freedom Fighters who, when the British invaded the Atlantic coast of the US, took their liberty into their own hands and bore arms against their ex-masters are virtually ignored in American history, both Black and White, but their story is being explored and brought out into the open by John McNish Weiss. In 1995 he presented to the annual gathering of descendants the first edition of this publication, displaying for the first time the names of all the first settlers, with a brief history of the events which led them to Trinidad. In succeeding years, he has broadcast their story to international conferences of historians in the US, the UK and Germany"

thanks for the update. I am a direct ancestor of the Merikens in Trinidad my family are still in one the original settlements called "SixCompany", which is also named after the regiment. The history books dont acknowledge what happened to our side during the war of 1812 but thanks for helping to the spread the message.

This Is Peter Taylor the Minister of Legal Affairs and Member of Parliament for the Constituency of Princes Town South/Tableland, the constituency where the Companies of black Marines landed in Trinidad. I am a member of the cabinet of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and I and other colleagues are committed to embracing this fascinating piece of our history. There is one book entitled "The Saga of The Companies" written by Boysie Huggins. Now deceased, his expose of the history of the Merikens in Trinidad is very informative and interesting. Kindly email me at peter98004@yahoo.co.uk for further discussion